COVID-19 is the disease caused by the novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) that emerged and was first detected in Wuhan, China in November/December 2019.
Through human movement (migration and travel) the virus has spread quickly throughout the World and has infected over 10 million people and killed more than 500 000 of those (July 2, 2020).
In response to the outbreak in China, the Government of Madagascar suspended flights to and from China on February 10th and then all international flights were suspended as of March 20, 2020.
Nevertheless, COVID 19 was first detected in Madagascar on March 20, 2020 from three individuals with recent travel history from Europe.
Authorities declared a Public Health Emergency through which, confinement measures were set in order to limit movement within and between regions of the Island. Some of these measures have since been relaxed.
Testing is available in the country mainly for suspected cases. The Institut Pasteur de Madagascar acquired the capabilities to conduct the tests in January 2020 and has conducted more than 14 000 tests so far. Recently, three other laboratories acquired the capabilities to conduct the tests too and collectively, these laboratories aim at conducting more than 1,000 tests/day.
As of July 01 2020, Madagascar has confirmed 2,303 cases in 15 regions and 22 deaths.
Test: The tests used to confirm that a person is infected with the virus is called a RT-PCR (Real time Polymerase Chain Reaction). It allows scientists detect genetic material that belongs to the virus and suggest that the person is currently infected (can pass the virus to another person).
Case: An individual who obtained a positive result after a molecular test by RT-PCR from one of the approved laboratories in the country, whether or not the patient presented symptoms to the disease. The reported case figures on a given date does not necessarily show the number of new cases on that day: this is due to delays in testing and reporting.
Moving average: The 7 day moving average is calculated everyday and consists of the average of the values of an indicator (e.g. cases) during the previous 7 days. It allows to evaluate the overall trend of this indicator and helps prevent major events from skewing the data.
Positivity rate: This corresponds to the proportion of confirmed cases per 100 tests performed. The WHO has suggested a positivity rate of around 3–12% as a general benchmark of adequate testing. reference
Case fatality rate: The proportion of confirmed cases that died of COVID-19 so far.